Socialism is ‘Imperative’: Communist Leaders Detail Their Plans for America at Party Conference Over the Weekend

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(Photo: CPUSA)

The Communist Party USA opened its national conference in New York this weekend, and the speakers weren’t shy about their plans for the United States of America.

In what constituted a clear step-by-step stratagem, Sam Webb, the party’s chair, opened his remarks by saying that the upcoming elections are only be part of “a grander design [that] will connect the dots between our immediate and longer-range political task.”

“To put it differently,” he elaborated, “we hope to connect the struggle at the ballot box today with the struggle for socialism tomorrow.”

Webb continued to discuss the “catastrophe” that would befall humanity if we did not begin living in a more environmentally friendly manner, before declaring socialism to be “imperative…to preserve peace and our planet, expand democracy, eliminate gross racial, gender, and other forms of inequality, and to provide a secure life for the billions living on this earth.”

But how, exactly, does the party propose to transform America’s system of governing?

The first step, according to People’s World– where the official Communist Party USA Twitter page directs readers– is to defeat right-wing “extremism” (presumably at the aforementioned ballot box).

Sam Webb speaking at the CPUSA Convention (Photo: People's World)

One such Republican to defeat is likely Rep. Allen West of Florida, who has been criticized for noting that there are likely 80 members of Congress who may be Communists.

Rather than deny the charge, Communist Party Vice-Chairman Libero Della Piana remarked: “Is he saying that he would not support the democratic right of the people to elect communists to Congress if that was, in fact, what they wanted to do at some point in the future?”

Once Republicans are successfully subdued, Webb believes that communists will join with workers in an “anti-corporate” struggle.

“[But] this stage of struggle doesn’t supplant capitalism,” he explained. Rather, it “brings the socialist stage closer as tens of millions become convinced in the course of the struggle that capitalism doesn’t work for them” [Emphasis added].

Finally, after a shift among the “core forces” for social change, the Communist Party and other leftist organizations will finally succeed in becoming “the people’s government.”

In this stage, Webb explained, it is important to “control the movement of capital, [institute] a tax policy that weighs heavily on the wealthy, and [place] under democratic control sectors of the economy, such as finance, that are a threat to the peoples’ government and a socialist revolution” [Emphasis added].

While many have long-dismissed the Communist Party and other leftist organizations as fringe political movements, their influence among vocal groups like Occupy Wall Street has granted them more consideration in recent months.

“We are still too small,” Webb said, “but the good news is that we’re growing.”